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tv   NOW With Alex Wagner  MSNBC  February 25, 2014 1:00pm-2:01pm PST

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country. it turns out there are a lot of folks who would be willing to make a small investment in some actual peeple-powered democrat sell. that does it for "the cycle". conservatives cannot stop the tide of progress, but it's thursday, february 25th. this is "now." >> it's a big decision in arizona. >> over a bill that's been criticized as antigale. >> that would allow business owners to review, based on their religious belief. amplts five candidates have all come out against this bill. >> republicans have also been quick to call for the governor to scrap this law. >> it's not an action that our business leaders don't want. >> there will be an economic
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impactivities this is not the message we want to send. >> we must be suspicious. >> i hope the government will veto it and we will move on. >> the rep party will continue to lose elections if they continue to alienate the folks that they seem to constantly not embrace. >> it goes to the heart of what this country has always stood for. >> jan brewer is ready for her close-up. all eyes are on the arizona governor. which would allow businesses in the state to refuse service to certain customers. on the basis that those businesses' religious beliefs. interviewed yesterday she delivered mostly inconclusive remarks, but did kind of sort of suggest they radio veto the bill. >> certainly i'm pro-business. that's what's turning our economy around, so i appreciate their input as i appreciate the other side.
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i assure you as always i will do the right thing for the state of arizona. >> her version of the right thing is obvious a curious one, but if in this case it means vetoing the bill, it will be due in large part to the broad condemnation of the legislation in all corners of her state. both of the senators oppose the law as did companies like apple, american airlines and marriott, all of which will have or will have significant business interests in the states. thousands of arizonans railed against the law. even her closest advisers are signaling that she will veto the bill, this was clearly not par of her agenda. if governor brewer does kill the bill, arizona would be the latest state to reject a bill that effectively has a listen to
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discrimination, a legislative jujitsu that's been in vogue lately. last week alone four of these bills failed in a single day. another was scuttled this week in maine. so why have all these states gotten so concerned about the religious views and interests of private businesses? back in november, gaberyial arana of the american prospect predicted the rise as the next big front in the culture wars. because they were either lost or losing, social conservatives were shifting focus from stopping the tide of social change to exempting themselves from it. this strategy to basically call a time-out on social progress isn't confined just to the debate over gj. in salon, brian boitler argues this is just one example of the waiver mania, which includes the furor or the health care law to
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the proliferation of stand your ground laws, conservatives are retreating into a variety of interlisking but isolated subculture. when necessary, making or manipulating law to insulate them from contact with the masses. joining me now from phoenix is the governor's office and state politics reporter for "the arizona republic" yvonne winjet sanchez. give us an update if you could about where the wind is blows as far as the governor vetoing this bill. >> well, you know, the governor has remained noncommittal publicly about how she's going to act, though those closest to her indicate she has enough political cover to get and veto it. late last week it was it looked like a 50/a chance she might sign it. >> we saw footage of protesters
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yesterday. certainly there's been national discussion and outrage and indignation. what's it like on the ground in arizona? how much dissent are you seeing and hearing? >> well, certainly there's a lot of dissent from the business community, from the arizona chamber of commerce, the g-pac, the real big economic powerhouses in the state of arizona have come out against this and are encouraging the governor to veto this. you have latino activists, social service groups, churches with the exception of the catholic diocese saying governor brewer, please veto this bill. it's intoed for the economy, bad for tourism and bad for arizona's image nationally. >> yvonne, thank you for the update. joining us is josh barrow, and "the washington post" columnist jonathan capehart. jonathan, i'll start with you.
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both of you have written about this. i think that the thesis that brian puts out about -- and gabriel arana, about this being part of a larger movement who see the tides of social change coming at them. instead of trying to resist the tides just literally take themselves out of the ocean, if you will. what did you think about that? >> i think it's a great theory. you can't even call it a theory. i think what brian has written is the truth. we're seeing, as the white population -- the white majority dwindles, and where we don't have a sort of racial majority in this country, what we are seeing is people basically doing a last gasp, trying to figure out ways to hang on to power. so if they're going to try to exempt themselves from laws, exempt themselves from the social change that is inevitably going to wash over them, you know, that's what they're going to try to do, that's exactly
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what they're doing, the hopeful side here is what we have seen in the four states that you mentioned before where the religious exemption law that is folks tried to get passed have failed. >> josh, what's interesting to me is also the idea that it's not just about gay marriage, you should telegraph the 15i78 resistance onto the aca work or lack thereof that republican governors have done to the stand your ground laws. a variety of legislation that is designed to, i think what social conservatives see as a shrinking window to put in as many stopgap measures as they can before this country changes. >> and i think you also see it with the birth control man day, those that donnell want to cover for free contraception. >> i think as jonathan notes, it's interesting to see how much this is fizzling out. i think conservatives thought
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they a reasonable and markable -- where, look look people with live as they like, in fall i think it's perceived correctly as an attack specifically on gay people, and really also a special right for religious objections to get out of generally applicable laws, laws like public accommodation. even though this is written around sort of the gay marriage issue, people with assert all sorts of claims about what their religious views cause them to not want to do in their business. i think gabriel was right to call out than phenomenon would arise, because i think it's failing. >> well, it is on this issue, but jonathan, i would sort of take you -- we were talking about this when we were planning the segment. part of the thing we discussed was an issue for a whole generation of americans, the issue of tolerance and equality is settled law.
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you know, issues in and around contraception, abortion, reproductive rights are still being very much litigated. although 90% of women sexually active are using contraceptives. you would think we sort of have figured that out, but when you tell people about the substabs of this law, i think it's incredibly distasteful to young people and anything that remembers the civil rights struggle, because it seems like such an echo of that percent, a fraction time in american history. keep in mind the young mill lennial, the young people for whom you correctly set this is a settled issue, they weren't around for the civil rights issue. for them this is the civil rights issue of their time, and for them it's a no-brainer. same-sex couples should be able to get married. lgbt people should not be fired from their jobs. they should, you know, enjoy equal protection under the law,
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just like everyone else. has the young people, though millennials get older and rise into positions of leadership, we can see a lot of the nonsense that we're seeing coming out of state of arizona and other places will see that disappearivities you know, josh, what's interesting if we're readinged tea leaves from governor brewer, which is a dangerous thing. i don't recommend anybody do it at home. she mentioned business. >> right. >> businesses come out in force against this bill. once again we're seeing this cleave in the republican party. this is just the latest issue, you know, jan brewer has sided with hard-line social conservatives, but it feels like this is going to be something where she sides with the business community, because she knows about the economic interests of her own state. >> i think there's that, but particular in arizona, the state went through this about 20 years old. the state actually lost the super bowl that was supposed to happen in arizona over the state's refusal in 1989 to adopt
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the holiday that i think at that point had been adopted in every state. finally in 1992 or 1993 the state made martin luther king day a holiday. so it's -- they saw the business impacts from that of getting out in a position on a social issue that was viewed as being retrograde around the country. >> retrograde to say the least. but i digress. >> so i think politicians in arizona are sensitive to the fact if they do things that look stupid to the rest of the country. >> not great for this day's business interests. >> exactly. >> john, i want to talk about how the white house has handled this. eric holder made sort of a historic statement yesterday, insofar as he suggested to other attorneys general that they don't need to defend bans on marriage equality in their own states that their states have those bans. i'll read the excerpt -- he was careful not to encourage them to
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disavow their laws but they could refuse to defend them. bakley a very public wink wink/nod nod. from the president who evolved on the issue, this is not president obama saying this, but thinks his attorney general and i think reflects the view in the administration, they have come far on this issue to the point where the attorney general is fairly out there on this issue farce this communicates to other attorneys general. >> he's way out there, but he's got the law on his side. keep in mind that the attorney general -- i should say the president with the backing of the attorney general a few years ago said that they would no longer defend the so-called defense of marriage act against a court challenge, because they viewed it was unconstitutional and sexual orientation or laws pertaining to sexual orientation should be given heightened scrutiny in a court of law.
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now, that then was somewhat upheld by the sprk when they invalidated doma last june. so now -- and as we all know, justice scalia in his dissent said, oh, great, look what you have done now. you've basically given states the ability to opt them out, and that's exactly what's happening they're taking the sort of facetious remark in court papers and saying, you know what? he's actually right. and what the attorney general has said in that speech, you really have to read to find the wink wink and nod nod in there, but he's bakley saying, hey, if you think that heightened scrutiny applies to the laws in your state, go right ahead. other states have done it, we did it, and we won. >> you know, speaking of the supreme court, josh, before we wrap this up, the supreme court is expected to decide next month
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whether companies like hobby lobby have to provide coverage if a private business has a religious or moral objection to it. that fits into this context insofar as we're talking about the concept of corporate personhood, and they should be entitled to the same -- that plays like the catholic church is entitled to. >> we see what is happening on these style of laws, but where do you think the court goes? >> i would know that with the hobby lobby case and the contraception issue, that's not just about about the constitution, but a about a law that gives people a right to an exemption unless the government meets certain conditions to demonstrate it's really pont to
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aplay the law to them. one thing that accrues to hobby lobby's -- is that the corporate -- is full of exceptions. there are all kinds of health plans that's perfectly legal to offer if they're grandfathered, so hobby lobby can say all these other people get exceptions, why not us? it's possible that they will win out, but it doesn't necessarily signal something broader about what the court is saying. >> we will see. jonathan capehart from "the washington post" and josh barrow, newly minted "new york times," congratulations. >> thanks. >> great to have you both on the show. >> thanks. coming up a tea party candidate for the united states senate uses and then defends the use of the word "wetback." that's coming up. first president obama and speaker boehner go mano a mano
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for the first time since 2012. they have a lot to catch up. we'll discuss the meeting of the minds next up on "now." why are? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ before chantix, i tried to quit probably about five times. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. that helped me quit smoking. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix, and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental-health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these,
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relations between these two men have been cast in the language of the cold ware. they haven't met one on one in the oval office since december of to 12, and it is unclear whether they see eye to eye on anything at all. no, we are not referring to relations between president obama and russian president vladimir putin, the icy rapport is one between president obama and house speaker john boehner. a frost that's perhaps showing signs of thaws or melting
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slightly around the edges until it freezes again. they held a private meeting in oval, away from pries eyes and ears. it was their first tete-a-tete over fiscal negotiations in 2012. after the meeting, speaker boehner gave almost no insight to what went down. >> reporter: hoff the meeting? >> it was just fine. >> reporter: what did you talk about? >> reporter: last time -- >> we had a nice meeting. >> according to the speaker's office, the nice meeting included discussion of manufacturing, trade promotion authorities, flood insurance, immigration, the president's health care law, afc, the appropriations process, california drought relief, wilefire suppression, and the highway bill. there was no mention of life on mars or chinese currency manipulation, but that's quite a list of topics. and it is important to work together wherever we can find
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common ground. having survived nearly falling off the fiscal cliff. several iterations of a failed grand bargain and 1646 gale government shutdown, they haven't shared much, even in department of 2012, a sense of kinship was not exactly in the air of a that mere, speaker boehner reportedly joked about the president's gun chews habit. that barb was returned a day later when an adviser to the president said of the speaker, give him a glass of wine and he'll be better to deal with. slam. no readout on today's gum and red wine supply. joining mess from chicago is former senior adviser to president obama and director at the university of chicago's institute of politics david axelrod. from washington, political editor and white house correspondent from of huffington
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post, sam stein, dave i will start with you. people always give the president a hard time for not having more of a relationship with the congress, more specifically the republicans, more specifically the speaker, and i have no sense of the significance of this meeting. what do you think prompted the president to have this meeting with speaker boehner? >> well, first of all, my observation of their relationship when i was there is that it was not -- it was not this deeply unfriendly relationship. i understand that events transpired after that that may have put a strain on their relationship. you prone isn't the relationship. the problem is the relationship between the speaker and his caucus. they can gra el on anything, but if the caucus is unwilling to move, it puts boehner in a different position. we've seen that time and again. frankly, lately he's been bug
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bucking the caucus at some personal cost to hillself. so, you know, these may not be meaningful, though i think on things like the highway bill there may be common ground, but the issue isn't the talk dern it's the talk between the speaker and his own 2r507s. >> yeah, you know, david raises a fair point, sam, that there's a lot of talk about how much or little control and currency boehner has. on some level, i am surprised that boehner took it, and then on some level, i saw it as a page turning, of course, given how much, as david points out, he's called on the the fraction elements of his own party and seems kind of, if we base it on his passing of raising the debt limit, basically taking that off the table for two years, maybe this is the beginning of some kind of chapter 5 in his legislative career? how did you read the accept
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yanks of the invitation? >> i'm not as optimistic as the set up. i read it slumply. when the president asks for a meeting, you accept it. i think that's still true, even with this current republican congress and current congressional leadership. i don't foresee necessarily it resulting in any legislative breakthrough unless i'm missing something. the republican leadership put together immigration principles, for instance, not too long ago and was force to do walk away from it, happening a couple years after that. so it doesn't look like we'll have a fairly productive legislative colonel darn in the year ahead, but later today senate mine orth leader mitch mcconnell said it was not going to happen this year. it doesn't look like it's going to be much. i think the key think is they said they could work together. the question is, is there any mutually agreed upon issue? >> david, in that laundry list
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of things they talked about. in between like flood insurance and the appropriations process, is the word immigration, given what mitch mcconnell said about it, we have an irresolvable conflict here, and the way he basically slapped boehner back for releasing those principles, i was sort of surprised to see immigration on that list. the republican party made it sound and seem like that was off the table. it was discussed today in the oval office. how bullish or bearish are you on immigration reform? >> i really do believe that boehner and some of the leaders of the party, ryan and others, see it as important to pass immigration, because it is a huge weight on the republican party nationally. bus i was surprised when they rolled out the principles at the time that they did, because march is the month when most primary filing dates occur around the country. their big concern, the concern of their members is getting a challenge from the right. if they seemed warm to immigration reform, they were
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more likely to get that challenge. and to win primaries, they don't want to seem warm to immigration reform. it seems the sweet spot for immigration reform, if there's anything such out there, is after the election, after they've gone through these primaries and before we get into the presidential cycle, but i will tell you this. if you get into the presidential cycle and you haven't dealt with immigration reform, it's going to be hard to deal with when you have a bunch of candidates trying to appeal to the right wing of that that party that is so resistant to it. >> a few weeks ago chuck schumer upped the ante, basically when he said, okay your issue is that you can't trust president obama to enact immigration reform, so let's just agree on the terms and then it can be implemented in 2017 when barack obama is no longer in the oval office. to what degree do you think the
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democrats can push that strategy and get republicans into the corner ahead of the election of this year's mid terms? >> i think of that as sort of a sidecar issue about the implementation daylight. for starters, a lot of stuff would have to be implemented after the president sis to begin with, because it's complex and takes year to actually implement. let's go back to what david said, the problem is between boehner and his own conference. i think it was roll call when they produced a poll about how many republicans in the gop conference actually agreed with the principles that boehner put out a few years ago and they could only find 19 members who said they did. the problem again is not obama necessarily, but whether considerable and perhaps it's because of the primary dates, he can't do it. until he can do that, this is a moot debate. we won't have it until boehner feels comfortable. >> you know, one thing that was not on the laundry list, david,
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was keystone form that's one area where we think there may be some common thinking between president obama and john boehner. i was surprised it wasn't on the list. do you think the president announced yesterday he would probably make a decision in the next few months? where do you think the wind is blowing on that decision? >> you know, i honestly don't know the answer to that question. i do think, you know, the state department's report that was released a few weeks ago, which bakley said that the arguments have been overstated on both sides of the debate, it is -- it is a thought that i've heard before, but i don't know where he's going to go with it. i think he honestly believes that this is going to contribute in a significant way to global warming and climate change, he won't go forward with it. if he believes that it will have minimal effect, because that oil is going to be extracted anyway,
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you know, he may go the other way. i know he doesn't believe in the state department report didn't suggest that there is this big bounty of jobs and economic activity related to the keystone project. that's a red herring. it's an execution for the lack of a real economic growth plan on the part of the republican party. >> but something tells me, david that's not going to stop them talking about keystone as a job creator. >> as i said, if you don't want to talk about infrastructure, you don't want to talk about and you have things that would actually create jobs on a large scale, then you have to have this flimsy figure leaf and they'll hang on to it for as log as they can. flimsy figure leaf is the takeaway from this conversation. thank you both, guys. coming up, former president bill clinton may have more than a touch of gray in his hair, but number 42 is kind of blue cool. i just said that.
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that's just ahead. but first, the level of disturbing anti-immigration rhetoric may have just reached a new low, deep in the heart of texas. that's next. christina wilson had a network of friends who needed part-time work, and she had a sense parents were in the market for creative baby-sitters, so she started sitters studio. now those artists are taking care of kids across the city. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. i can impart one lesson a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small.
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uh-oh. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. with the countdown to november, there's been a lot of talk about the republican senate primary in texas. that's the race to unseat john cornyn. so far much of the focus has been on steve stockman, whose outlandish views on a lot of thing are another discussion for another day. but if you thought stockman was the only buffoon in the lone star state, meet chris mac, according to the paper, the 53-year-old south texan told the
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editorial board earlier, that ranchers should be allowed to shoot on sight anyone crossing the boarder on their land and referred to them as wetbacks, and side note he called the president a socialist s.o.b. he defended his remarks saying the term wetback is as normal as breathing air in south texas. if that is truly the case, the particulate count is disturbingly high. while "the morning news" called the campaign clownish, he obviously has the -- under the big top. after the break, strong polls and the big dog. should mitch mcconned by worried? that's up next on "now." [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts,
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i know i've reached the age
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i'm not running for anything, i can tell you exactly what you think. and since i'm not in office, you can ignore it. though when when i was in office, i thought people were ignoring it. >> that was bill clinton earlier this afternoon. 22 years after his first presidential bid in 1992. clinton's in the bluegrass state fund-raising for longtime clinton friend alison lunderen-grimes, the secretary of state seeking to unseat mitch mcconnell. as things currently stand, grimes holds a later, and the bubba bump just might widen that gap. mitch mcconnell's response -- the visit is great news to mcconnell. speaking a few moments ago, he had this to say. >> the last time he ran in 1996, he eked out a narrow victory.
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in 2008 they both came to town, include the day before the election and i won by 100,000 votes, so i welcome president clinton back to kentucky. every time he's come, it's been good for me. >> so if the debate continues whether 42 is a helping hand, there's another democratic president that received naira a mention at the current event. our current one. 31% is to be precise, which is the same incident as mitch mcconnell. here is how hi characterized his party's leader. this race is about putting the -- i don't need any other surrogate to do that. standing in stark contrast to the president and many of his ideas and platforms. >> putting people and perhaps
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polling first. joining muss is professor of political science at the university of louisville, and author of the presidential campaign. dewey clayton. professor clayton, thank you for joining us. i want to talk about the oddity here of being very close to one democratic president, but not making mention of the other. jonathan in the page of the "new york" magazine, i wonder what you think of this -- to sure kentucky is not a racist state, but race is a essential dynamic. the outcome of this election will turn in part on whether climbs can appeal to white democrats who don't want to support an african-american. what role do you think race still plays in kentucky politics? >> i think there's no question
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that race still plays a part. we would be fooling ourselves to think otherwise, but if you look at some of the last democratic candidates for president, they did not fare well in kentucky, either. but make no mistake about it, race still plays a significant role in politics in kentucky, as it does in many other southern states units what do you think accounts for clinton's popularity here? i mean, to continue, he was the first democrat -- no presidential candidate has won kentucky, since clinton, but what explains his popularity, given the fact that, as you point out, democrats have not fareed that well in kentucky in the last few decades. >> no, but one of the things that president clinton did, he was ability to move the party to the right, so he ran and was popular ago broadband more of a
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concentric candidate. people like to go out and hear president clinton, you know nobody makes the case like president clinton. people like him, people want to go hear him, plus he has ties hire. alison grimes, her father has been friend with bill clinton for quite some time. her father catered chelsea clinton's wedding, and clinton has come in on numerous occasions for fund-raisers for jerry lund i grund, alison's father, and he has known president clinton since he was governor back in arkansas. so they have a relationship that goes back a few years. as is pointed out, while most desperately wash to be lined the he's cultivated his reputation as a villain. do you think that's true? 31% approval rating, which is
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the same as president obama's. how does he keep getting reelected by the people of kentucky then? well, he's known how to bring home the bacon. he supports a lot of issues that are near and dear to kentuckyians, and particularly as a -- he is anti-obama, and obama, as you just noted, is not very popular in the state, but you look at issues like coal, the affordable care act, those are things that he will try to tie around her neck. no doubt about that. >> she has a very like dotted line to tread, if you will, which is she's a democrat, but she doesn't want to be too closely associated with this president, as you said mitch mcconnell will do everything he can to lasso her to the
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affordable care act, despite the fact that it's doing pretty well, and governor bashir has taken it up with gusto. how successful do you think she can be? she polls ahead of mitch mcconned right now. do you sense this will be a toss-up? i i feel she has a fighting chance. there is several things working against mcconnell. though he is the senate minority leader, as i said he's been in there for a while, and i think people are looking at him as being part of the problem in washington, which may be one reason why his approval ratings are down somewhat or down substantially, and so i think for the first time in quite some time he's feeling heat he hasn't felt before. he has a primary challenge, though he's expected to win that. that's something he's not really had in quite some time. the dynamics are much more different than in quite some
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time. >> well, we will be following it very closely in today's discussion, and national media attention on the big dog in the bluegrass stayed is in indicator, we will be talking about this intently for the next several months. professor, thank you for your time and thoughts. >> thank you for having me. personal reflections, a new exhibit at the presidential library. that's after the break. spokesperson: we decided to settle this. a steel cage death match of midsize sedans. the volkswagen passat against all comers. turbocharged engines against...engines. best in class rear legroom against other-class legroom. but then we realized. consumers already did that. twice. huh. maybe that's why nobody else showed up. how does one get out of a death cage? vo: hurry in and lease the 2014 passat for $189 a month. visit vwdealer.com today.
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ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. call it the backup plan. president obama has ordered the pentagon to begin planning for a complete drawdown of american troops in afghanistan by the end of the year as the u.s. and the afghan governments, if they cannot reach a security agreement. this comes a day after chuck hagel announced major military
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spending cuts. what does all of that have to do with food stamps? >> former vice president dick cheney has made his own cheneyesque connection. that's coming up. first bertha coombs as the market wrap. >> hi, alex. it was kind of a flat day. the dow was down. the nasdaq slid five points, but a couple companies bucking the trend. shares of home depot were higher. they reported better than expected profits. they said cold weather has been hurting sales, because a lot of folks have been kept in cost cutting did help boost the profits. meantime, tesla is having a huge day, the best performs stock in the s&p 500. on a couple things, morgan stanley says they think the electric auto make will nontransform the auto industry, but likely be disruptive when it comes to power.
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that's really going to affect a lot of other industries. meantime the model s was chosen as the best pick for cars in to 14 by "consumer reports." that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. alex will be right back. s [announcer] word is getting out. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy.
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there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked, giants stood tall, and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real. avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place. expedia, find yours. cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!"
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the artest currently known as former president george w. bush is making his big debut. this spring the george wish bush presidential library will debut the art of leadership, a president's personal diplomacy. it will feature two dozen pour trades painted by america's 43rd president. according to the press release, the portraits will be accompanied by artifacts, photographs, and personal reflection to help illustrate the stories of relationships
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formed on the world's stage. no world on whether the exhibit will feature any paintings in his showerport or the still life. the exhibit opens in dallas this april. coming up. the food stamp president is back, dick cheney's latest screed is next. [ female announcer ] skin looking tired? wake it up with olay regenerist.
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♪ see what's new at projectluna.com
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predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. the united states spends more on its military than any other country in the world. in fact last year we spend more on defense than the next 14 countries combined president so when defense secretary chuck hagel announced yesterday that our nation's military budget would be shrinking and army levels would be decreased, it seemed somewhat reasonable.
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after all we've wound down one war, and are in the process of ending another by the end of this year. but no defense cuts go quietly into the night. yesterday on fox news, former vice president dick cheney sounded off and made some rather peculiar allegations about the priorities of our current president. >> i have obviously nobody been a strong supporter of barack obama, but this is really over the top. there's an enormous long-term damage to our military. he would rather spend money on food stamps than a military. >> apparently this is now a zero-sum game, and prioritizing people who are living without food is a bad thing. among the many problems, the many problems with his statement, is the enormous gap between what we spent on our military and what we spend on poor and working-class americans. in 2013, the u.s. spent $76 billion on snap, which is the
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food stamp program. on defense, we spent an eye-popping $716 bill chron, not to mention the fact that nearly 1 million veterans receive snap benefits every month and that dick cheney himself, when he was secretary of defense in the 1990s, he cut the defense budget by 25%, and redoused the number of active-duty soldiers by half a million. but never mind the facts. there is a conservative construct to be developed here, our weak flailing food stamp president, that's the conservative construct. here's to hoping the american public does not suffer from the same terrible amnesia ta dick cheney seems to be --, how else do you explain that -- and also managed to destroy american credibility all over the world, how that guy has been the gumption and the audacity to preach about long-term damage to the u.s. military.
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that is all for now, i'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern, "the ed show" is coming up next. \s. good even americans, let's get to work. >> protect our environment and open new markets to new goods stamped made in the usa. >> not afraid of dirty jobs. now people are slinging mud, because he's supporting walmart jobs. >> all the ad really did was announce walmart's intention over the next decade to buy a quarter of a trillion of u.s. made products. >> they say you can't be a champion of the everyday guy, everyday woman and then work with walmart. >> i make around $12,000 a year, which is poverty levels. i'm at food